The format for the 20/21 competition was scheduled to be as follows, in case this is repeated for next season:
For the purposes of the pool draw, the 24 clubs were separated into tiers based on their league finishing position, and clubs from the same league in the same tier were not drawn into the same pool. The number 1 and number 2 ranked clubs from each league are in Tier 1, the number 3 and number 4 ranked clubs are in Tier 2, the number 5 and 6 ranked clubs are in Tier 3, and the number 7 and number 8 ranked clubs are in Tier 4.
Pool play will feature the Tier 1 teams playing the Tier 4 teams in their pool (that are not from the same league) twice in a home and away manner, while the Tier 2 and 3 clubs will follow in a similar manner.
The four teams from each pool with the best points will qualify for the knockout stage. Teams finishing 5th through 8th after pool play will join the Challenge Cup at the round of 16 stage (joining eight qualifiers from the Challenge Cup pool stage) In total, eight weekends of play will be provided for, one less than in previous seasons.
There's also a video in this article:
https://www.epcrugby.com/2020/09/02/new ... 21-season/
So I think that means, and I'm probably wrong, but the teams finishing 7th and 8th in the Premiership will be split between the two pools. They will then have home and away games against the two Tier 1 teams from the Top 14 and Pro 14, home and away. These games contribute to a league system, and the top 4 teams in both pools go into the Quarters.
So the potential for two big European names rather than three, and it would be handy to finish 6th rather than 7th or 8th. But any of those are better than finishing 9th...